Many junior officers are reluctant to take on the challenge of writing, but effective communication is an essential leadership skill. (Shutterstock)
Writing is a critical skill lacking in the tool kit of many junior leaders, and many of them are unwilling or unable to take on the challenge of developing it. Unfortunately, the consequences are detrimental to the development of a more encompassing and essential leadership skill—communication. Thankfully, maturing a wardroom’s writing and communication skills can be easily promoted by senior leaders.
In their Division Officer’s Guide, Admiral James Stavridis and Rear Admiral Robert Girrier list five key competencies a division officer needs to be successful. The first—and most important—is communication. “You must develop your skills in speaking and writing every day,” they advise.1
Today, however, many junior officers have tech-heavy educational backgrounds and overly busy administrative schedules, just two among a litany of justifications for choosing not to write. Exacerbating this situation is an eagerness to default to designated communication professionals to carry out this leadership task. But long before the advent of the military public affairs field, fleet leaders routinely engaged the public with well-written pieces.
Early in my tour at the Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center, I took the lead on writing articles about exercises or events led by our command, but my approach robbed my teammates of opportunities to develop the communication skills they will need in their future roles as senior leaders. The warfare tactics instructors I work with have front-row seats for many of the fleet’s most advanced warfare development programs. As such, they are positioned to provide observations and analysis to a wide range of audiences. I made a decision to give them the first opportunity to present their stories.
My transition from writer to editor brought value to me, my peers, and the command. First, my peers get the benefit of exercising their writing skills and honing their writing process. Second, the commander’s overarching communication objectives are met by the most relevant voices communicating on the timeliest issues. Third, my team and I are able to plan, align, and synchronize communication efforts more effectively to achieve the commander’s communication objectives with the supporting voices.
The command embraced the undertaking, and the balance of articles drafted by my peers shifted significantly in just one year. We are developing a culture where there is an expectation to write, and processes in place to support it. Our aim is to achieve short-term communication objectives while making a long-term investment in our officers’ career development.
With these lessons in mind, I offer the following recommendations:
For leaders:
• Challenge. The men and women I work with are some of the most talented people I know. Challenge your young leaders to write at least one release or professional article in a tour, and hold them to it. Not only will you develop individuals, but the dialogue spurred from those projects will improve critical thinking within your team.
• Encourage. Many officers are under the impression that senior officers are opposed to their writing if their position on an issue is out of step with the boss. While diversity of thought and free speech can create friction, the marketplace of ideas is where courageous leaders are able to challenge their own views and learn from others.
• Develop a process for publication. While the content of articles isn’t predictable, the local process for review should be. Department of Defense and Navy policies on information and operational security, ethics, and public affairs provide specific guidance without providing local directive. A strong entering position is that professional writing by non–public affairs personnel should be reviewed by a staff judge advocate, security manager, and public affairs officer before final review by leadership. The intent should not be to sway the author’s position, but to protect the individual and command from policy and law violations.
For junior leaders:
• Be an omnivorous reader. Much like the best followers often become the best leaders, many of the best writers learn by emulating and borrowing technique and style from other writers. Read from a breadth of writers, styles, and opposing viewpoints.
• Start small. In Bird by Bird, author Anne Lamott describes how she begins writing by keeping topics metaphorically small enough to fit inside a one-by-one-inch picture frame.2 Keep scope and expectations small to make writing less intimidating.
• Put pencil to paper. The best way to become a better writer is to write more. Alfred Thayer Mahan didn’t think The Influence of Sea Power Upon History into being, any more than bodybuilders prepare by thinking about weightlifting. The writings of Lieutenants William Halsey, Chester Nimitz, and Ernest King are keen examples of starting early in a career.3
• Be humble. Start writing and share it with someone you trust to give you honest, critical feedback. Publication isn’t an individual effort, and nobody gets it right the first time.
In an increasingly cluttered information environment, the need to develop clear, decisive writers and communicators in the Navy’s leadership ranks is critical. Invest in your teams and in your own professional development by practicing the key leadership competency of communication through the written word, so we all can benefit from what you bring to the fight.
1. ADM James Stavridis and RADM Robert Girrier, USN, Division Officer’s Guide, 11th ed. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004).
2. Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (New York: Anchor Books, 2007).
3. ADM James Stavridis, USN, “Read, Think, Write, and Publish,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 134, no. 8 (August 2008), 16-19.